Ector County prosecutors will not prosecute former narcotics
agent turned marijuana activist Barry N. Cooper and two others on
charges filed this summer by the Texas Rangers in connection with the
December 2008 Kopbusters hoax.

County Attorney Cindy Weir-Nutter said Tuesday her office rejected the Class B misdemeanor charge of
filing a false report to a peace officer because the charge does not
reflect the facts of the case.

“The statute in Texas requires that the false report be made during an
investigation, and there was no ongoing investigation,” Weir-Nutter
said. “You have to be able to prove all elements of the offense beyond a
reasonable doubt.”

The dismissal includes the same misdemeanor charge filed against
Cooper’s wife, Candi Cooper, and 50-year-old Tammy Grimes of Gardendale,
who was accused of being an accomplice in the Kopbusters hoax. The decision to dismiss the charges came
despite a lengthy criminal investigation into a faux marijuana grow
house that Cooper organized as a ruse to expose what he insisted was
corruption and incompetence within the Odessa Police Department.

Cooper said he set up the grow house after he was hired by the father
of Yolanda Jean Madden, an Odessa woman who for months claimed police
conspired to plant drugs on her. Madden, who had her conviction set
aside for a new trial, recently pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was sentenced to time served.

The investigation spanned more than a year and was eventually handed
over to Texas Ranger Brian Burney, who decided to file charges after
determining Cooper’s fingerprints were found on an anonymous letter sent
to police alerting them of the grow house on Lotteman Drive.

Burney filed an affidavit saying it was “obvious that the information
given to the Odessa Police Department was false and deceptive with the
intent to cause a reaction from officers who were conducting the
investigation.”

“It’s kind of a big slap in the face to the Texas Rangers,” Cooper said Tuesday. “I know the law. It’s not hard to read.”

“This further proves that these cops are retaliating on us,” Cooper said.

After Cooper’s arrest, the Odessa Police Department issued a statement saying the charges filed by the Texas Rangers served to vindicate the
police officers who “performed professionally and appropriately” while
investigating the grow house and Madden’s case.

On Tuesday, Police Chief Tim Burton declined to comment, but Cpl. Sherrie Carruth issued a statement
saying, “we respect the prosecutorial decision” and thanking the Rangers
and county attorney’s office for their efforts. Odessa officials have
been mostly mum throughout the case.

It was not clear Tuesday whether the Rangers would file an amended
charge in the case. Burney did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
A Department of Public Safety spokesman declined to comment “at this
time.”

Cooper, who recently filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the
Texas Rangers and several law enforcement officials, said Tuesday he
will likely remove the city of Odessa as a defendant in the lawsuit.

“I’m only after the corruption,” Cooper said.

Cooper still faces a similar misdemeanor charge of filing a false
report in connection with another Kopbuster hoax in Williamson County.
He said Tuesday he intends to fight that charge and expects to go to
trial sometime in late November.

The Williamson County hoax also resulted in a misdemeanor charge of
possession of marijuana in Travis County after authorities searched his
residence. Cooper said he is trying to work out a plea agreement in that
case.